BYM ONLINE DESK Blessing English May 2017 | Page 6

Beautiful feet!
Missionary Lifesketch-28
Susant&Prabathi
I come from a small village in Kandamal district in
Odisha. My grandfather was a musician who used to play
flute during village religious functions. Right from my birth,
I was very sick and used to have frequent attacks of fits. My
parents took me to a witchdoctor who used to tie a thread
around my neck each time I had fits. The witch-doctor also
warned my parents that if they remove the threads, I would
die. The threads became more and more in numbers but there
was no remedy. One night I fell among the cows and was on
the verge of death. My parents were very much afraid and
took me took to the nearby CNI Church for prayer. The
pastors there guided my parents in faith and they encouraged
them to remove the threads from my neck. All my family
members stayed in the Church the whole night and prayed
along with the pastors.
out of our native village. I thank God for CNI Pastor
AdmiNayak who received us gladly and gave us a small
place to build a hut. In the year 1991, I took water baptism
and committed my life for the full time work. I entered Bible
college in Rourkela and did my Graduate in Theology
studies. It was during this time, I accidentally came across
Blessing Magazine which was lying down. I took the
magazine and started reading it. I read an article written by
Dr. Mrs. Stanley which challenged me a lot. I applied to
Blessing Youth Mission and joined as a full time missionary
in the year 1997.
I was first posted in Ramagiri for four years. It was
here I was joined in marriage with Prabathi from Jeypore.
She had also committed herself for missionary work. We
served God in various places in Odisha like Beheda,
Raighur, Diwanmunda, Kodikipara, Chatrapur,
Govindapalli and Lamtaput. During our stay at Chatrapur,
God enabled us to start a home for boys for Saura tribe. It
was a joy to see them educated and come up in life. In one
village we stayed in an abandoned hut and in another place
there was a constant threat from the anti-social elements. But
praise God, He who called us is faithful and He protected us
from all dangers.
God blessed us with two daughters Johanna and
Susanna who are studying 9th and 10th respectively in
AnandNiketan, Lamtaput, Odisha. Presently we are based in
Umerkote and coordinating the ministry of Odisha.
Pray for us that we might be found blameless and spotless
in the Day of the Lord which is fast approaching. Amen!
My parents took a bold step of faith by not only
removing the threads from my neck but every idol from our
home. From that day on, I was miraculously healed from
fits. During the night, my father prayed to God that if He
would heal me, then I would serve Him all the days of my
life.
Soon after my family found God, there was a severe
persecution in my village. We were forbidden to take water
from the village-well and to buy anything from the shops.
We were even forbidden to talk to villagers. We were driven
Beautiful feet!
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